Azerbaijan says it has launched “anti-terrorist operations” in the Nagorno-Karabakh region and demanded the “complete withdrawal” of ethnic Armenian forces as a condition for peace in the disputed territory.
Armenia’s foreign ministry urged Russian peacekeeping troops there to intervene and stop Azerbaijan’s “full-scale aggression” against the local population.
Footage shows explosion flames rising in Nagorno-Karabakh
The Defence Ministry of Azerbaijan has released footage showing explosion flames rising over a mountainous area which Azerbaijan says hosts Armenian forces’ positions in the breakaway territory of Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan to take army operation ‘to the end’ unless Armenians surrender
Azerbaijan will continue what it calls its “counter-terrorism operations” in Nagorno-Karabakh “until the end” unless Armenian military units surrender and give up their weapons, the state news agency quoted the presidential administration as saying.
It said the presidency was ready to meet representatives of the ethnic Armenians who control the breakaway mountain enclave within Azerbaijan.
“Nevertheless, for the antiterror measures to stop, the illegal Armenian military formations must raise the white flag, all the weapons must be handed over, and the illegal regime must be dissolved,” it said. “Otherwise, the antiterror measures will be continued until the end.”
In response to calls for negotiations, it claimed Armenians in the Karabakh region had been invited for dialogue on several occasions but “repeatedly rejected it.”